I regularly go down to the crypt under St. Patrick’s Cathedral and I look at the tombs of my predecessors. Right in the center is the next marble block with no inscription. That’s reserved for me. And all that’s important when I move into the crypt is that I have~
“I regularly go down to the crypt under St. Patrick’s Cathedral and I look at the tombs of my predecessors. Right in the center is the next marble block with no inscription. That’s reserved for me. And all that’s important when I move into the crypt is that I have served New York as a very good priest.” –Cardinal John Joseph O’Connor
It’s Thursday:
Today we remember Cardinal John O’Connor, who served as Archbishop of New York from 1984 until his death at age 80 on May 3, 2000. He was buried five days later, on today’s date, in the crypt below the main altar at New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral after his Funeral Mass.
Crypt at St. Patrick’s Cathedral:
I visited and prayed at the burial place of Cardinal O’Connor this past Saturday on the 14th anniversary of his death.
The Funeral Mass:
Over 150,000 people filed past the body of Cardinal O’Connor at St. Patrick’s Cathedral to pay their respects over the four days before his funeral. The Mass of Christian Burial was attended by an invitation-only crowd who packed the cathedral while thousands more gathered outside to listen to the broadcast of the Mass. In attendance were President Clinton and Vice-President Gore with their wives. President George H.W. Bush sat with the O’Connor Family.
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican Secretary of State, was the principal celebrant of the Mass of Christian Burial, delivering the Holy Father’s condolences, who remembered Cardinal O’Connor as “one of the great bishops and cardinals of modern times.”
The homily was given by Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, and a post-Communion reflection by Cardinal William Baum, the senior American cardinal at the Vatican. Prolonged applause of the standing congregation followed Cardinal Law’s praise of Cardinal O’Connor’s pro-life legacy. He started the Sisters of Life to promote the Church’s culture of life.
At the annual March for Life in Washington, DC with the Sisters of Life (Photo)
Background:
Born in 1920 in Philadelphia, John Joseph O’Connor was ordained to the priesthood in 1945. He served the U.S. Navy for three decades after responding to a call for military chaplains, later being appointed an auxiliary bishop for U.S. Military Archdiocese from 1979 to 1983. He went on to serve as Bishop of Scranton for a short time before being named the 8th Archbishop of New York in 1984. He was elevated to the College of Cardinals the following year.
With Pope John Paul II just two months before his death (AP photo)
Diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1999, he passed on to his eternal reward on May 3, 2000 after a long illness and complications from the cancer.
Telegram from Pope John Paul II on the death of Cardinal O’Connor:
“With a deep sense of personal loss I have received the news of the death of Cardinal John J. O’Connor and I offer my prayerful condolences to you, the auxiliary bishops and the priests, religious and laity of the archdiocese of New York. With gratitude to God for the cardinal’s many years of dedicated and courageous witness to the Gospel as chaplain in the armed forces, as bishop of Scranton and as archbishop of New York, I join you in commending this faithful servant of the Church to our heavenly Father’s eternal love. As a deeply spiritual man, a warm and zealous pastor, an effective teacher of the faith and a vigorous defender of human life, Cardinal O’Connor modeled his own life and ministry on the figure of the good shepherd who to the end ‘gives his life for the flock’. Through the years he has been of great support to me in the service of the universal Church, he worked tirelessly to build better ecumenical and inter-religious relations, and for Catholics and other Christians and men and women of good will throughout the world he was a source of inspiration in serving God in our less fortunate brothers and sisters. To the cardinal’s family and to all who mourn him in the hope of the resurrection I cordially impart my apostolic blessing as a pledge of consolation and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The impact of Mother Teresa:
With Mother Teresa and Supreme Knight Virgil Dechant at the first “Gaudium et Spes Award” presentation by the Knights of Columbus in 1992. (Photo: Knights of Columbus)
“Mother Teresa offered me one of the most precious gifts that I have received by telling me, ‘Only if we share the light of Almighty God do our lives become truly meaningful.’ ” –Cardinal O’Connor
President Bush and other church and civic leaders pray during the congressional gold medal ceremony in honor of Cardinal O’Connor on July 10, 2001. (White House photo by Eric Draper)